Everyone is having a good time getting excited about media payola, and that's fine. (We've just learned of a third, third-rate, journalist on the secret take.) But that strikes me as almost minor compared to the larger issue of the vast sums being funneled to private PR agencies to push government projects.
How much of that money is being spent on things that clearly identify them as government propaganda (distasteful, but perhaps legal so long as it is not being used to lobby congress even indirectly — that would be quite illegal), and how much is not labeled? I don't expect most of the major media to pursue this since, to the extent it was used to by ads in the media, it pays their salaries….
Also part of the bigger picture is the vast sums spent every year by the rightwing corporate foundations to maintain and build up these third-rate hacks. The government subsidizing them is just the new twist. Why should private money continue funding the noise machine if they can use taxpayer funds?
http://www.DrLaniac.com/articles/HacksAndPropagandists.htm